Diplomacy

Jordan's King Visits Iraq, Urges Arabs To Support

AP | QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA | Posted 09.11.2008 | Home


BAGHDAD — Jordan's King Abdullah II held talks Monday with Iraq's prime minister after coming to Baghdad on an unannounced visit, the first by a...

Meet the Bloggers: Darcy Burner Can End the Iraq War Responsibly

ZP Heller | Posted 09.09.2008 | Politics


ZP Heller

When it comes to the Iraq war, the question is no longer whether the U.S. should end it, but how.  On yesterday's Meet the Bloggers, special guest Darcy Burner made the case for A Responsible Plan to End the War in Iraq, which she co-authored earlier this year. 

Friday Talking Points [41] -- The Silly Season

Chris Weigant | Posted 08.09.2008 | Politics


Chris Weigant

I have a confession to make. I actually watch the network news. Maybe I should enter into a twelve-step program or something. But I don't watch the ...

North Korea and The New York Philharmonic: The "Why" Question Gets Answered

Ben Rosen | Posted 08.05.2008 | Politics


Ben Rosen

My answer: To initiate a dialog between the people of two adversaries, the first of such talks in 58 years.

Talking Does Not Make a Foreign Policy

Amitai Etzioni | Posted 07.31.2008 | Politics


Amitai Etzioni

I believe talking and diplomacy are a good ideas, and a vast improvement over the Bush administration's bankrupt unilateralism. But they are merely means to an end. The question is: to what end?

Getting Ahead of the Power Curve

Richard Klass | Posted 07.28.2008 | Politics


Richard Klass

Obama has talked about new ways of thinking about military power and international relations and has more clearly seen world realities and possibilities for creative ways to deal with those realities.

Iran: Reading Tehran With Lolita (Time to Publish Iranian Writers)

Jeff Biggers | Posted 07.27.2008 | Politics


Jeff Biggers

While Azar Nafisi's bestselling Reading Lolita in Tehran, chronicled her efforts to teach forbidden Western literature, most Americans would be hard pressed to recall a single novel from Nafisi's native country.

Friday Talking Points [39] -- Republican Elitism Edition

Chris Weigant | Posted 07.26.2008 | Politics


Chris Weigant

For only the fourth (or fifth, depending on how you count) time in his presidency, George W. Bush had a veto overridden by both houses of Congress thi...

Stigmatizing War

Robert Koehler | Posted 07.24.2008 | Politics


Robert Koehler

The moral center of humanity slowly asserts itself. Only the most powerful are too afraid to join. You may have missed the news: At the end of May, 1...

Fault Lines Emanating From Zimbabwe

Joe Lauria | Posted 07.21.2008 | Politics


Joe Lauria

The vetoed sanctions resolution against Zimbabwe at the Security Council has exposed international tensions that divide the West from Africa, Russia from the West and the US from South Africa.

The McCain Campaign Tries Cross-Dressing on Iran

Daniel Levy | Posted 07.19.2008 | Politics


Daniel Levy

So here was the McCain campaign accusing Obama of being insufficiently multilateral and pro-diplomacy in its foreign policy. It's hard to know where to begin.

A Decent Respect for the Opinions of Mankind: Iran Literacy Quiz

Robert Naiman | Posted 07.11.2008 | Politics


Robert Naiman

Since it doesn't look like Washington has any intention of swearing off its bombing addiction anytime soon, in the spirit of '76, I offer the following quiz for the edification of the general public.

Bombs Away?

Steven Solomon and David Kaye | Posted 07.09.2008 | Politics


Steven Solomon and David Kaye

A variety of pressures compelled the NATO powers in Dublin to support a ban in principle while preserving American flexibility to use cluster munitions in joint operations with allies that might join the treaty.

Empire or Democracy: Are We Ready for the Fall?

John W. Whitehead | Posted 06.24.2008 | Politics


John W. Whitehead

As resources are drained, the principles inherent in a democratic republic will be compromised by what is needed to sustain a militaristic empire like the US.

Even Bigger than The Hype: Obama's Candidacy as World-Historical

Shahid Buttar | Posted 06.19.2008 | Politics


Shahid Buttar

But even though racial inequities persist, there is no doubt that the first black President will be a milestone, a watershed seemingly unthinkable before Obama's meteoric candidacy.

Larijani's Election Can Boost Congressional Diplomacy

Trita Parsi | Posted 06.13.2008 | Politics


Trita Parsi

While the Bush administration has opposed direct contact with the Iranian government, Tehran bears overwhelming responsibility for the failure to initiate a dialogue between the two countries.

Poll: McCain Is Wrong, U.S. Should Engage Iran Diplomatically

The Huffington Post | Posted 06.10.2008 | Politics


John McCain isn't just on the wrong side of American public opinion when it comes to Iraq. A new Gallup poll shows that fully 67 percent of Americans ...

The Persian Question

Hooman Majd | Posted 06.07.2008 | Politics


Hooman Majd

I have news for David Brooks and all who agree with him: the Iranians do understand their system, their foreign policy, what their regime stands for, and are quite happy that you are lost in how to deal with them.

Low Marks: 18% Of Diplomats Think Rice Is Doing A Good Job

Washington Post | Karen DeYoung | Posted 03.28.2008 | Politics


Only 18 percent of the U.S. Foreign Service think Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is doing a good job protecting their profession, according to a ...

Iran Reformers to US: Let's Talk

Christian Science Monitor | Scott Peterson | Posted 03.28.2008 | Politics


Former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami and Nobel Peace Prize-winner Shirin Ebadi are among several key Iranian public figures saying that only dire...

China Ends Policy Of "Panda Diplomacy"

The Guardian (U.K.) | Jon Watts | Posted 03.28.2008 | Home


The world's cuddliest diplomats are out of a job. China will no longer give giant pandas to foreign countries as a way of improving international rela...

British Envoy In DC: Warfare Alone Not Enough To Counter Terrorism

Times of London | Tom Baldwin | Posted 03.28.2008 | Home


Britain's most senior ambassador has made an impassioned call for a "new diplomacy", suggesting that the muscular approach to fighting terror in Afgha...